The Very Catholic Spain created by the Reconquista forcefully posed the problem of the conversion of Jews, but also of Muslims. A historical investigation explains why between two alternatives, Spain did not make a choice: it converted then expelled – so much did it doubt the way in which it had baptized, by force, these new Christians.
Studies relating to the methods of evangelization of American Indians and the debates they have sparked in XVIe century are legion. We know the teachings of the University of Salamanca, and primarily those of Francisco de Vitoria, which contributed to the emergence of public international law ; the remarkable television film by Jean-Daniel Verhaegue popularized twenty years ago the Valladolid controversy which opposed in 1550 the Dominican bishop of Chiapas, Bartolomé de las Casas, to the humanist Juan Ginés de Sepulveda, a supporter of the enslavement of the Indians. In Converting Muslims, Spain 1491-1609Isabelle Poutrin recalls in a few pages the commitment of Spanish theologians of XVIe century in this fundamental area. In doing so, it can easily underline the contrast between the constant interest shown in the Indians in this matter and the rarity, if not the absence, of work on the methods applied alongside the Moriscos and the reflections they provoked. . By opening this vast project, it is therefore seeking to fill a gaping gap.
In fact this book has two closely intertwined dimensions: it is a major contribution to the history of the Moriscos ; it also constitutes a decisive contribution to the examination of relations between Church and/or State on the one hand and minorities on the other hand in the context of Christian Europe in Modern Times. The starting point is extremely clear. For the author, it is a question of seeking to understand the drastic decisions taken by the Catholic Kings (Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Charles V, Philip IIPhilip III). In doing so, Isabelle Poutrin distrusts the terms tolerance and intolerance, adopted by a number of studies over the past twenty years at the risk of anachronism, says the author in her introduction. This warning deserves to be underlined when in a very recent book devoted to Muslims in Europe XVIe–XVIIIe centuries (where the Morisco question holds an important place), Lucette Valensi does not hesitate to claim from the first page the use of anachronism, which leads her to adopt the expression of ethnic cleansing to describe the expulsion Moriscos from all over Spain, ordained in 1609.
The Moriscos: from protection to conversion
Isabelle Poutrin’s book does not aim to retrace the history of the Moriscos. For example, there is barely any mention in the work of the major episode of the rebellion which in the region of Granada held out the royal armies for two years (1568-1570). However, the author in no way neglects the chronology by strongly emphasizing the importance of three dates, 1491, 1525, 1609 which were all moments of change in status for the Spanish minority populations of Muslim origin. In 1491 the text of the Capitulations of Santa Fe was signed by Ferdinand of Aragon, Isabella of Castile and Boabdil, the last Muslim sovereign of Spain, under which the surrender of Granada to the Christians was programmed and the rights of the vanquished guaranteed. in particular that of the freedom of their religion. This was the announcement of the extension of the status of Mudejar, to all Muslims in Spain. 1525 is on the contrary the end of a long process, begun in 1499 in the territories of the Crown of Castile which led to the disappearance of this status of Mudejar. In this year 1525, the Muslims of the Crown of Aragon were in turn given the choice between exile or conversion. All of Charles V’s subjects are now officially Christian. The term Morisco therefore designates Spanish Muslims converted to Christianity or their descendants. Finally, in 1609, after long consultations, particularly within the Royal Councils, the decision to expel all the Moriscos from Spain was taken by Philip III. It took five years and many steps to complete.
The central question at the heart of all these events is that of conversion under duress. From the entry of the Castilian and Aragonese sovereigns into Granada to the massive and forced exile of the Moriscos, it has never ceased to provoke reflection and debate. Isabelle Poutrin endeavored to restore and analyze these debates by constantly placing them both in their context and in the long term of Christian thought. To do this, she has “ shelled » difficult texts written by men keen on canon law and theology, thus breaking with rapid readings transposing our categories to those of the XVIe century. For example, a new and convincing interpretation of the capitulations of 1491 is proposed thanks to the unprecedented comparison of the proposals of Boabdil, the defeated prince, and the modifications made by the Christian sovereigns. “ Far from freezing the religious situation of the conquered city, says Isabelle Poutrin, the capitulations on the contrary inaugurate a dynamic of Christianization “. We cannot therefore speak of a broken word on the part of the winners.
Throughout a hundred pages, the complex sequence which from 1521 to 1525 led Charles V to demand Mudejars of the Kingdom of Valencia to choose between conversion to Christianity or exile. Alongside the exposition of the facts opposing Christians and Mudéjars, the Treatise on the recent conversion of the pagan, composed in 1525 by Fernando de Loazes, prosecutor of the inquisition court of Valencia, where this jurist questions the use of force to obtain conversion. The author summons all the precedents in the history of Christianity and all the texts of canon law that have addressed the question of constraint. This text, the importance of which is definitively revealed, has made it possible to ask all the questions that the conversion of the Moriscos has provoked since the first wave of baptisms at the very beginning of the XVIe century until the decision of expulsion was taken in 1609. This period of more than 80 years, which Isabelle Poutrin describes as “ time of doubts », sees comments and proposals piling up. Behind the hesitations of the policies of Charles V and that of Philip IIbehind the difficult choice between the repression of apostasy by the Inquisition and reconciliation through confession, behind the confrontation between men of government, factions competing for power, prelates and great lords, points to the unease which captures, over the years, a growing number of actors or witnesses to this story.
Why expel ?
The needs of a conversion which would achieve its goals, the extermination of minorities and their expulsion are considered concurrently. It is this last solution which is finally retained because we consider at the beginning of the XVIIe century the Moriscos as victims of the constraint suffered during the baptisms administered in 1500 and 1502 and between 1521 and 1525 and nevertheless also as guilty of their apostasy. For the supporters of the expulsion, whose number has continued to grow over the years and who ultimately prevail, this is an appropriate measure, a tempered punishment because it guarantees the physical integrity of the Moriscos than the recourse to the inquisition endangers. The expulsion is also a means of putting an end to the potential danger represented by the supposed intelligence of the Moriscos with the Muslim, Ottoman or Maghreb Mediterranean powers and of emphasizing the capabilities of the power of the Catholic Monarchy. Nearly 300,000 people were ultimately expelled.
By closing the book we have the feeling of having understood the paths which led from the difficult achievement of confessional unity in Spain to the rejection of a large officially Christian community. And also to suddenly grasp the richness of the debates which took place around conversion throughout the XVIe century. Was the baptism received by the Moriscos valid? ? Was the conversion imposed by force in the 1500s, in 1502, in 1521 or in 1525 and if so, under what conditions was the use of it justified? ? These questions haunted the Spanish sovereigns, their advisors, the men of the church who never ceased to consult experts in law and theology. Roughly speaking, the supporters of the doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas who were hostile to forced conversions were opposed to those of the doctrine of the Franciscan John Duns Scotus who was favorable to it, convinced that time would do its work thanks to appropriate evangelization and that the descendants of the converts would become good Christians. From then on it was important for each situation to evaluate the degrees of constraint, absolute constraint and conditional constraint, between infidels who have never been baptized – for example Jews who remained in Judaism – and infidels who have received baptism and have apostatized, category to which the Moriscos belonged. These notions, underlines Isabelle Poutrin, constitute a language whose mastery is essential if we truly want to understand the decisions taken in matters of faith by the sovereigns of the Middle Ages or early modernity.
An exported experience ?
The analysis proposed here has the merit first of all of placing the religious dimension at the heart of what is commonly called the Morisco question. It is certainly not the only one and the political and economic dimensions, not ignored here but perhaps mentioned a little quickly, must be taken into account. The fact remains that the remarkable Morisco peasants and artisans whose professional skill was recognized by all were expected to first become good Christians. Certainly the fear of their betrayal was general both from XVIe and at the beginning of XVIIe century, but all the texts, including the expulsion decrees, first reflect the deep bitterness of governments regarding the failure of the conversion policy applied in the long term to minorities.
From this book, many avenues of research open up. First of all, it would be necessary to better connect the religious with the political than was done in the Morisco framework, all the more so since the minorities were readily ascribed links with the enemies of the Catholic King, with the Ottoman Empire, the Moroccan kingdom and the regencies of Algiers and Tunis of course but also with the French Protestants. The Moriscos, unlike the conversos of Jewish origin, represented in the eyes of many a real threat to the integrity of the monarchy. The decrees of expulsion evoke treachery towards God and towards the King. Furthermore, Isabelle Poutrin does not fail, as we have seen, to establish comparisons between the cases of conscience posed by the Morisco reality and those posed by the Indian reality in America. To what extent were some able to influence others in both directions? ? A few rare works have embarked on this path ; but what borrowings have the jurists and theologians working in the American space made from their imitators on the Iberian Peninsula and vice versa? ? And beyond the Hispanic monarchy, what echo, what impact it had in a Europe greatly torn apart by religious conflicts in the XVIe century the reflections developed in Spain ? Official tolerance was unacceptable even at the beginning of the XVIIe century but the debates which developed there show the extent of the doubts which creep into consciences. In this respect, Isabelle Poutrin’s book, rich and clear, deserves the greatest attention.